


A New Day

by josephina_x



Series: Cotton Candy Bingo 2012 [1]
Category: Smallville
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-31
Updated: 2012-08-31
Packaged: 2017-11-13 05:52:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/500206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/josephina_x/pseuds/josephina_x
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: Morning (end of season 2)</p>
            </blockquote>





	A New Day

**Author's Note:**

> I've been feeling vaguely depressed lately, and/or stressed and the sheer number of things that I need to take care of, that I should've gotten done over the summer, etc., (and that includes stress over fic, not just work, though mainly work, argh), so I'm trying to write happier fic. So I'm planning on playing around with this challenge a bit whenever I feel too awful, or I'm just not getting anywhere or seeming to get anything done, or I feel like sleeping for an age (though that last one might be me trying not to get sick and/or symptomatic or something :-P )
> 
> Most of the fics in this bunch will live in the same 'verse, and this one sets the scene. You can read them separately as if they aren't, though.
> 
> The [Rules+FAQ](http://cottoncandy-bingo.dreamwidth.org/1660.html#cutid1) for the Cotton Candy Bingo are here.

"Hey, Lex," Clark said, sounding slightly uncomfortable.

"...Good morning," Lex said, glancing over at Clark across the breakfast table as he sat down and opened his newspaper to the business section.

Clark squirmed uncomfortably in his chair and dug into his cereal and milk.

Lex had to admit -- it _was_ a little uncomfortable being seated in the middle of the table in the large dining room, with Lionel at one end and Mrs. K-- _Martha_ at the other.

Three months, and Lex _still_ had difficulty thinking of Martha as a step-mother. _His_ step-mother.

He still wasn't sure of all the details, and honestly didn't really want to be privy to them. M-Martha and Lionel had been caught up in that horrible mess with the LuthorCorp office bugging, and inexplicably Martha had ended up fired, Lionel had almost been killed by the sheriff -- the sheriff having apparently only framed Jonathan for the botched-murder -- and then Martha moved into the castle with Lex and Lionel.

And then a month after that Martha and Lionel were married with not all that much fanfare in a small chapel in town.

Those events would have made a lot more sense if Jonathan had helped his friend try to kill Lionel. Martha would have left Jonathan if he'd been jealous enough to try and remove the other man in the picture by offing him, instead of trying to stick around and make the marriage work. Lionel didn't marry his staff, and he wouldn't have pursued a serious relationship with Martha while she was working for him. Not a _serious_ relationship.

Lex had been both terrified and thrilled. Martha had always seemed like the perfect mother, and Clark -- well, he'd always told Clark that he'd had loved to have him as a brother.

But instead of finding himself basking in the love and affection, Martha had remained distant -- cold, almost.

Lex didn't even get to share in the nearby warmth, because Clark somehow never quite seemed to make the transition to the mansion alongside her. He remained at the farm, where Lex was now even less than welcome, and... Clark didn't come over to the mansion anymore. He'd asked after him once with Martha, and received a stony silence and a look he couldn't process, and really didn't want to -- he'd felt uncomfortable enough as it was not knowing.

Joy and terror soon shifted into annoyance and frustration.

Until today.

 _Something_ had happened. He'd been startled awake in the library last night -- having fallen asleep on the couch reading through some LuthorCorp files -- and proceeded to head out into the hallways to see what all the noise and bustle and hubub was about. He'd been informed in passing by his father that Clark was coming over to stay with them at the mansion -- for good; Martha now had full custody rights for her adopted son.

Lex wondered why she hadn't had full rights from the start. --And if she'd had even partial rghts, shouldn't she have at least gotten Clark on the weekends?

He hadn't been able to ask much of anything last night; the whole household had been in a state, and Lionel himself had seemed a little in shock and completely preoccuppied.

 _That_ had been weird -- the strangest bit of it all. Lionel didn't _get_ personally invested in people, usually. Not like this.

 _Whatever_ it was hadn't stopped with last night, either -- Lionel had an odd, concerned, almost sympathetic look that he seemed to be aiming Clark's way.

What was _really_ peculiar was that it looked like the geniune article.

Lex slowly lowered his paper, glancing back and forth between the two of them.

"Ah," Lionel started, then cleared his throat. "Are you feeling better this morning Clark? Well rested?"

Clark somehow managed to look even more uncomfortable than he had before. "Yessir," he mumbled, keeping his head down.

"What was that?" Martha asked, raising an eyebrow.

Clark winced, obviously not wanting to repeat himself.

"He said, 'Yes, sir,'" Lex orated for him, glancing at Clark, and then back to Lionel.

"Clark!" Martha reprimanded. "You should not talk to your father that way!"

Lex nearly did a spittake on his orange juice -- because, really, too much, too soon anyone? Clark hadn't even been in the castle a _day_ , and most days even Lex didn't want to remind anyone of his own familiar association--

\--wait...

Clark let out a barking laugh.

"He's not my father!" Clark exclaimed.

Lex felt almost relieved, until his thoughts got away from _more banged-up help than Rachel Dunlevy?_ and moved on to _what the hell was **that** tone of voice?_ \--Clark hadn't sounded derisive or anything in the realm of such. He hadn't actually sounded like he'd been referring to _Lionel_ at all.

"It's all right, Clark, Martha," Lionel cut in.

Wow. Clark wasn't the only one to wince at that -- Lionel looked a little uncomfortable, too.

What the hell was going on?

"This is a very... new situation for all of us," Lionel continued, glancing at Clark again. "And--"

"As far as I'm concerned, Clark can refer to you as his father or as nothing at all," Martha said, sending Clark and then Lionel each their own respective _look_.

"'Nothing at all'? That's a mouthful," Lex said quietly, glancing up at Clark under his eyelashes. "Or... _not_."

Clark stifled a snicker.

"--What was that?" Martha asked sharply.

Lex went rigid and Clark immediately bit his lip.

"He said, 'Don't eat with your mouth full,'" Clark said. "To me," Clark added belatedly.

Lionel and Martha both blinked, because that one... yeah, that one made no sense.

Clark suddenly seemed to realize this. "I could've maybe heard him wrong," he said, blushing up a storm, and then was suddenly _really_ very interested in his cereal.

Martha and Lionel stared at Clark, then exchanged glances across the table with each other.

Lex put on his unreadable blank businessman's mask and kept it on for the rest of the meal.

After all, he couldn't trade turns at sticking out his tongue at Clark while _both_ his parents were watching like a hawk.

Even if he _was_ 23.


End file.
